The archives of the articles, reviews, interviews and other ramblings written by Sarah E. Jahier (aka Fatally Yours).

Friday, January 16, 2009

Book Review: Splattered Beauty by Brandon Ford

We all love scream queens, there’s no doubt about that! Though we
each have our personal favorites, all scream queens hold a special place
in every horror fan’s heart! In Brandon Ford’s new book, Splattered Beauty, he takes his love of scream queens and crafts it into an entertainingly bloody story!

Alyssa Peyton is a struggling actress who used to be a successful,
sought-after scream queen in horror flicks. After going through a messy
divorce from her director husband and seeing younger, prettier actresses
take her roles, Alyssa can only find solace at the bottom of a bottle
or with a bottle of pills.

After signing autographs at a horror convention, she meets her #1
teenage fan, Taryn, who loves Alyssa unconditionally. After Taryn has a
falling out with her strict Catholic mother, Alyssa invites Taryn into
her home. Soon, Alyssa realizes she can manipulate Taryn into doing
anything for her…even killing.

With this, Alyssa begins a bloody rampage against those whom she thinks have wronged her.

Splattered Beauty is a fun, fast ride. It
was neat to peak behind the scenes at a scream queen’s life – going to
horror conventions, going to auditions, meeting with her agent, going to
movie shoots, etc. These scenes draw you into Alyssa’s life and all her
failures really make you feel sympathetic toward her. It’s not until
the last part of the novel that you really start to become scared of her
and what she is capable of.

My only complaint with the book was that the relationship between
Taryn and Alyssa felt a little forced and exploitative. Taryn’s
character felt underdeveloped, even though Ford went to great pains to
make the reader feel sorry for her and her predicament. By the end of
the book she just came off as whiny and as an unnecessary character. I
think Alyssa could have carried the book on her own, without as much
involvement from Taryn.

Other than that, the book was a fun, quick read. I couldn’t stop turning the pages to see what Alyssa would do next!